Winnie in Winter

(out of Winnie the Witch, 6-in-1 collection; by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul)

Teaching unit for lower school

(1st or 2nd year)
Martina Fuchs

Methodology of Teaching Literature and Culture

(Fachdidaktisches Proseminar 4)
Dr. Elisabeth Plzleitner

WS 2010/ 2011

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Vocabulary

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to shiver

icicles

to be tired
of sth.

spell
a crowd

wand

to crowd

noise

mess

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Pre-reading activities

1) Which words match with wintertime, which with summertime?

Circle the words for

to shiver
flowers

winter

ice cream

icicles

boots

blue and the words for

to sweat
deck chair

flip-flops
gloves

snow

summer

hot sun

winter sleep

yellow!

ice
cold

skiing
swimming

2) Brainstorming: Think about wintertime.

Do you like it? Why? Why not?

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What activities can you do in winter?

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What feelings do you associate (=verbinden) with winter?

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What other words come to your mind when you think of winter?

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3) The storys title is Winnie in Winter. What do you think Winnie is doing in
winter? _______________________________________________________________
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While-reading activities

4) Now listen to your teachers description of Winnie and draw the witch in her
winter-outfit!
Winnies winter outfit

Write down some clothes you need in

winter!

5) ... And something magic happened!

Guess what happened! ___________________________________________________
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6) Then she heard a very strange noise...

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What do you think she heard? _____________________________________________

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7) Look at the picture for 30 seconds. Remember as many details as possible and
answer your teachers questions!

Post-reading activities

8) Find the 8 mistakes in the text! Write the correct words next to the wrong line! ()

Winnie the witch looked out of the window and shivered. She was

___________

tired of winter. Her cat Wilbur was tired of winter, too. So Winnie took

___________

the newspaper and read it carefully. Then she put on her coat, her hat,

___________

her flip-flops and her scarf. She waved her hat five times and shouted

___________

Abracadabra! It was foggy summer. The animals and the flowers were ___________
happy to have summer. Suddenly Winnie heard a noise. She saw a great ___________
crowd of cows running towards her house. They sat in the sunshine and ___________
liked summer a lot. Winnie saw a somebody selling pop-corn in her garden. _________
The witch was angry. Her lovely summer was horrible. Again, she shouted __________
Abracadabra! and it was winter again. The people rushed home. Winnie __________
had a cup of tea and Wilbur a saucer of warm milk. At the end, Winnie and __________
Wilbur liked winter again.

___________

9) Winnie is watching the people in her garden. What are they doing?
Write down at least six sentences!

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10) Read the first part of the story and fill in the missing words!
Winnie the witch looked out of her window and sh

. Her

______________ was covered in snow. Winnie was ________________ of winter.

Suddenly, Winnie had an idea. She took her book of _______________ and read it
carefully. Then she went outside and waved her ______________ five times. And
something magical happened! It was sunny _______________ . Winnie was sitting
happily in her d

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ch

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. Then she heard a strange noise...

Now write a different ending to the story!

Then she heard a strange noise... __________________________________________
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Teachers notes:

Pre-teach vocabulary. The vocabulary cards only include the most important
words.

It might be nice to bring some real items such as a wand, a book of spells, a
witchs hat... and to use them while telling the story.

If you have a beamer at school, it is a good idea to project the pictures onto the
wall. Otherwise it is good to use transparencies for important illustrations in order
to make sure that the pictures are big enough and can be seen well by the pupils.

Use the picture of the double page The sun diappeared. The blue sky
disappeared. ... for activity 7. Prepare some questions, such as How many
snowmen are on the picture?, What does the girl hold in her hand?, Where is
Winnie? ...

Have fun teaching the story!

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